Van Doren Waxter Gallery: a partnership of experience and expertise

by leslierankowfinearts

Dorsey WaxterVan Doren Waxter Gallery

FOUNDED IN FEBRUARY 2013, VAN DOREN WAXTER GALLERY REPRESENTS A LONG-STANDING AND RESPECTED BUSINESS DIALOGUE AND PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN DORSEY WAXTER AND JOHN VAN DOREN. HOUSED ON TWO FLOORS IN AN ELEGANT TOWNHOUSE AT 23 EAST 73rd STREET IN NEW YORK CITY, THE GALLERY, ALTHOUGH NEWLY FORMED, IS A LONG-STANDING COLLABORATION BETWEEN TWO ACCOMPLISHED ART DEALERS.

JOHN AND DORSEY WORKED TOGETHER FOR 15 YEARS AT GREENBERG VAN DOREN, A GALLERY WITH A PARTICULARLY DISTINGUISHED REPUTATION AS A STRONGHOLD OF FIRST-TIER AMERICAN ABSTRACTION FROM THE 1950s to 1990s. REPRESENTING SUCH IMPORTANT ARTISTS’ ESTATES AS RICHARD DIEBENKORN, AL HELD, JAMES BROOKS AND ALAN SHIELDS, VAN DOREN WAXTER CONTINUES THAT TRADITION BUT ALSO EXHIBITS AND SUPPORTS THE WORK OF MORE CUTTING-EDGE CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS AT A SECOND LOCATION ON THE LOWER EAST SIDE AT 11 RIVINGTON.

TODAY, THE LRFA BLOG WELCOMES DORSEY WAXTER, PARTNER AND PRINCIPAL OF VAN DOREN WAXTER. AS PRESIDENT OF THE ART DEALERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, DORSEY GENEROUSLY CONTRIBUTED TO THE LRFA BLOG LAST YEAR TO INFORM US ABOUT THE ART SHOW AND THE ADAA’S MANY CONTRIBUTIONS TO SUPPORT THE VISUAL ARTS. http://www.artdealers.org

DORSEY, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO SHARE YOUR PROFESSIONAL HISTORY IN THE ART WORLD WITH US.

ALTHOUGH VAN DOREN WAXTER IS A RELATIVELY NEW ENDEAVOR, FOUNDED IN FEBRUARY 2013, YOU WORKED WITH JOHN VAN DOREN AT GREENBERG VAN DOREN GALLERY FOR 15 YEARS AND PRIOR TO THAT AS ANDRE EMMERICH’S DIRECTOR AT HIS LEGENDARY GALLERY.

Richard DiebenkornThe Healdsburg Years1988-1992

HOW DID YOU FIRST BECOME INTERESTED IN ART AND THE ART WORLD?

My uncle Ned Daniels served on the board of the Maryland Institute College of Art for three decades and he was my original inspiration to think about the art world. In college I had a terrific professor who advised me that if I wanted to know anything about contemporary art I had to go to New York and live and work there.

WHAT STEPS DID YOU TAKE TO PURSUE AND DEVELOP THAT INTEREST?

I took my professor’s advice and after I graduated from college with an undergraduate degree I went to work for Nancy Hoffman Gallery in SoHo. I had done an internship with Nancy my junior year in college and she offered me a job to come back and work full-time after I graduated.

YOU WERE THE DIRECTOR OF ANDRE EMMERICH FOR OVER FIFTEEN YEARS, A GALLERY THAT FOCUSED ON THE NEW YORK COLOR FIELD PAINTERS AND POST-WORLD WAR II ABSTRACTION. EMMERICH WAS AN EXTREMELY INFLUENTIAL DEALER AND GALLERY OWNER WHO DEVELOPED THE CAREERS OF SUCH LUMINARIES AS MORRIS LOUIS AND HELEN FRANKENTHALER AND REPRESENTED, AMONG OTHERS, THE WORK OF DAVID HOCKNEY, ANTHONY CARO AND ANN TRUITT.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR EXPERIENCE AT EMMERICH? WAS IT FORMATIVE IN DEFINING YOUR TASTE AND AESTHETIC?

Joining the Emmerich gallery in 1977 was a major step in a new direction after working in SoHo. I recognized that André represented some of the great talents of that moment but I was still very inexperienced. I started working at the front desk where I had the opportunity to meet and get to know all the many important figures of the art world whether they were writers, artists, collectors or museum curators. André was generous with his knowledge and would offer advice about how to show and discuss art with these various groups of people. There is no question that I have always had an abiding interest in abstraction, which was very much a specialty of the Emmerich Gallery.

IN OUR NEXT LRFA BLOG, DORSEY WILL EXPAND UPON SPECIFIC CONCERNS AND REQUISITES OF REPRESENTING ARTISTS’ ESTATES.

2 Comments to “Van Doren Waxter Gallery: a partnership of experience and expertise”

One of the finest post-war galleries – bar none – not only rich in its object program, but its deep academic approach is a practice missing in today’s flash in the pan art culture. A leading example of what an ADAA representative strives to be.